Are you ready for some football?????

By the time I get to post this, I'm sure that it will be halfway through the season & the hopes and dreams of a fresh new start may or may not be completely plagued by a myriad of injuries, legal woes, and scandals.  But this blog wouldn't be complete, and SEPTEMBER wouldn't be complete without a post dedicated to acknowledge the sport that makes our world go round.  The sport that brings both family and foe together.  The sport that causes so much joy and elation - but so much pain and anguish.

We got to kick off an early season W with my brother & pops here in New York when the Bears took on the New York Jets for Monday Night football.  The DuPonts & Mobleys usually get out to a football game every year - and whether or not we are able to make the trek to Chicago is still under discussion.  But we were all in the same place at the same time on a chilly September Monday last weekend, so we reunited in Long Island City to watch a much to-close-for-comfort win over the Jets.
Whether your team ends the year in first place of the division or 0 & 16, the Mobleys wish you all the festivities of the 2014 football season.  We wish you an endless supply of buffalo wings, never-ending pitchers of ice cold brewskies, full days of sunny, brisk football weather, and of course weekly excitement and happiness with minimal disappointment and let-downs.  Let the games begin & BEAR DOWN CHICAGO BEARS (and go Niners....I suppose!).

It ends in Athens

When we initially planned our itinerary,  Mike & I thought we would skip Athens - we hadn't heard great things about the capital of Greece.  We'd heard it's dirty, that there is graffiti everywhere, that it's not the safest location to visit if you're in the country....you get the gist.  But since we weren't planning another trip to Greece anytime soon & since the Acropolis is an amazing sight - we agreed to spend just one night in Athens before heading back to the states.  We're SO thrilled we made that decision, because Athens ended up being absolutely charming and it was the ideal way to end our Greek Getaway.

We definitely did Athens right - we had a car service pick us up from the airport and take us straight to the Acropolis.  It's a life must see & a truly wondrous sight.  It's incredible to walk among ruins that are older than anything I've ever seen or visited in my life!  The Acropolis sits on a hill above the entire city, and standing up there with the view of all of Athens makes you feel like a God - a Greek God!  And you're far away from all the graffiti, sirens, honking horns, and motorbikes - on this massive natural pedestal in the sky!  We're so glad that we made the trip to see it, because it's an amazing, amazing attraction.

The only other thing on our agenda for our time in Athens was....GRYOS!  After 8 days in Greece, we had everything from octopus straight from the sea, what felt like full pounds of grouper, at least a few pints of hummus, and gallons and GALLONS of Greek wine & grappa - but not. one.  gyro!   So our driver took us to one of the oldest souvlaki stands in all of the city - Thanasis, and after one bite, I thought I would melt into my gyro itself.  It's ok that it's considered "Greek fast food" - it was delectable and I think every gyro should have fries in them, if you ask my opinion.

Our hotel for the evening, the Hotel Grand Bretagne, boasted one of the best views of the Acropolis from the breezy rooftop bar. So we had a few cocktails up there before venturing out in search of a dinner venue. Our driver gave us another tip - and that was to spend the evening in a little part of town called Plaka - or as I like to think all of it - the west Village of Athens.  It's a little neighborhood with cobblestone walkways and it is hopping with authentic Greek tavernas.  And because we had robbed ourselves of a
week's worth of gyros - we were craving more souvlaki & Greek table wine....of course.

Typically, the last evening of a trip, I tend to find myself preemptively dreading returning to the normal world from vacation life.  It happened to us when we wrapped up our Italian trip from 2012 in Milan, and we weren't fully able to enjoy ourselves on our last night.  So we were determined to milk our Greek vacation as long as we could before returning to New York - and we absolutely did, even in the "non-romantic" city of Athens.

Before we left for Greece, Mike likened this trip to a second (or third, or fourth, if you count each of our Eurotrips since we got married!) honeymoon - and it really was a dream vacation.  We're so blessed to be able to take these yearly trips that end up surpassing my wildest expectations.  And I'm extremely grateful that my husband worked so hard for so many months to plan all of the amazing details & stunning accommodations.   It's crazy that I was looking forward to this trip since March of this year - and it was dreams of a Greek Island getaway that kept me going through the harsh winter, and brutal days of work - for MONTHS.  And in the blink of an eye - it's over!  Greece was an absolute magical trip that we'll reminisce about forever.  We hope you enjoyed the pictures - and we're happy to tell you all more stories when and if we see you in person!  OPA!!!!

A Sanctuary in Santorini

 
Santorini is one of the most special places we've ever been in the world - and completely different from the island we just came from in Mykonos.  Rather than being dotted with expansive beach side resorts, Santorini was quite the opposite.  Since Santorini basically exists because of a volcanic explosion, the entire island sits atop steep, rocky, cliffs.  The hotels are pure white boutique-y establishments pouring over the hill tops like beautiful white lava speckled with little blue domed roofs & luscious swimming pools.  And because you're literally on top of the world - the sunsets are absolutely breathtaking.

When we arrived at Canaves hotel in Oia, it was like a dream.  Our view of the sea caldera was something that truly captivated us every night & every morning when we woke up in Santorini.   It was absolutely flawless each night of our trip, and progressively got more and more picturesque as we continued our time in Santorini.  There are few things more perfect than sitting hand in hand with your husband nightly with a chilled glass of white wine, and watching the sun go down over one of the most beautiful places you've ever been in all of the world.  The entire island of Santorini and all of it's visitors stopped nightly at sunset to watch the sun dip down into the sea, because it is THE most gorgeous sight you ever did see.

But aside from the amazing views and unbelievable sunsets, there were a few other highlights from our 3 day stay in Santorini.  After we had spent the previous 4 days on the party island, Santorini was a perfect retreat, it was relaxing, and just all around romantic!  It's amazing how the entire vibe of an island that was only a boat ride away could be completely different, but equally as exciting and enjoyable. As I did for Mykonos, I've shared some of our favorite parts of this pristine island.

Our Sunset Catamaran - Unlike most of our Mobley vacations, we had limited excursions and adventures planned during or time in Greece.  But since Santorini isn't actually ON the water, our only request was for a sunset catamaran trip through the sea.  Santorini is covered in different colored beaches - there are the white, red and black sand beaches - and our boat stopped at all of them for us to jump off the sides and enjoy the water.  And because every night the sunset is a main event - we stayed on the boat and sailed towards what felt like the end of the earth, while the sun set into the sea.  We had endless homemade Greek wine and ouzo, fresh grilled Greek BBQ, and panoramic views all around.  Most of our boat excursions are pretty epic, but this one was one-of-a-kind.

The nighttime sky - Almost as impressive as the sunset and 360 degree views during the day, is what Santorini looks like at night time.  When the skies turn black, and the moon lights up the entire island & the cliffs are speckled with twinkling lights - it's absolute magic.  We ventured out to enjoy the evening views a few times - and we stumbled upon Ambrosia, a restaurant that boasts one of the most dreamlike terraces in the city with a mouthwatering menu of authentic Greek and Mediterranean delicacies.  And walking through the cobblestone streets in Santorini is the definition of romantic.

A table for 2 - The restaurant at our hotel has an adorable private table on the terrace that is just big enough for a romantic dinner for two.  If you're lucky enough to be able to reserve it, it's just perfect.  We got a tip from our trusty travel agent before we left the states - and it was the ideal setting to take in our unbelievable surroundings and hold hands across a candle lit table while discussing and reminiscing about our adventures and where our travels will take us next!


Amoudi Bay - Not only did our sunset cruise go into and out of Amoudi Bay, but it was also our destination for dinner on our last night in Santorini.  The Mobleys opted NOT to climb the famous stairs that descend from the top of the cliffs down to the water where the little bay town resides - nor did we take the famous donkey rides down the very steep cliffs.  But we DID make sure to have a reservation at Amoudi's Fish Tavern - the place for real, fresh, Greek sea food.  This is a place where, if you're lucky, you can catch a jolly Greek chef stepping outside the kitchen to cut the legs of an octopus with a giant knife before your very eyes.  Their sun dried octopus was to.die.for and it's one of the few restaurants in Santorini actually on the water rather than on the cliffs.

Canaves Oia - Again, this blog wouldn't be complete without a bit of a rant about how perfect our hotel was.  Each suite in the hotel has double doors opening up to the view of the sea caldera and an adorable little sitting area to enjoy the day's last rays of sun, or perhaps gaze upon the sparkling lights saturating the cliffs at night time.  The drinks from the pool were another highlight - I had a watermelon chili margarita that was life changing.  And the bartenders bring around blended treats throughout the day to keep you cool & happy!

I'm not sure we'll every go anywhere else as special and unique as Santorini.  I like to think that there are other gems in the world that we'll get to travel to together - but Santorini was something else. After this experience, I'm convinced I have a better idea of what heaven will look like if I'm lucky enough to get there. Even though we still had one more night in Greece as we jetted up to Athens, we departed Santorini with full bellies, heavy hearts and photographic memories of the views and sunsets. We'll be dreaming and reminiscing of this island for the rest of our lives.  

It's All Greek to Me!

I haven't updated the blog since before we left for our vacation - so I'll make up for that with some gorgeous pictures to share with you from our Mobley travels to the wonderful country of Greece.  Admittedly I've kept my vacation documentation rather private in an effort to spare my sweet cousin Sarah from all the details as she got closer to her honeymoon in the exact same place (I'll divulge all the gorgeous details of her wedding a few posts from now!).  But now that she and I are both back - I'm thrilled to share the photos and highlights from our vacation in Greek Paradise.

Our first leg of the trip was to Mykonos.  From what we heard, Mykonos was the "party island" - so naturally, it was a must see for us.  And after 18 hours of travel and 3 flights - arriving at the Mykonos Grand was like arriving at our own little piece of heaven.  We were greeted with Greek sparkling wine in time for sunset over the Aegean sea and we immediately relaxed into vacation mode. Our hotel was beyond fantastic and full of all the Greek charm that we had read so much about. For anyone who hasn't been to Greece, and for those of you who HAVE and can relate to the beauty, I wanted to recap some of our favorite parts from our visit to Mykonos.

The Beaches & Beach Clubs! Before even getting on any plane, we heard raving stories about the fantastic beach clubs that peppered the Mykonian coastline.  Since the weather was absolutely pristine, we set an entire day aside to spend at Nammos beach club.  Nammos has been known to turn into somewhat of a nightclub after the 5p hour - and it's not uncommon to see people dancing on the tables.  But for us, Nammos provided hours of relaxing time under the sun, hundreds of beautiful people from all over the world & an endless supply of Greek white wine.  It was here that we had our favorite meal of the trip too - a smorgasbord of the freshest seafood treasures straight from the sea!

The City Center - We went to the city center every night for dinner.  Our concierge recommended two amazing authentic restaurants in town that I'd suggest for anyone visiting the area - Avra & Kalita.  But aside from the flawless meals, the city center provided endless shopping and nooks to duck into for a cocktail or a view of the stunning windmills up on the hill.  There is an area called Little Venice - and if you can fight through the crowds, it's the best place to be when that blazing sun goes down.

Our friends - The evenings in Mykonos completely transform after 10p & we met some people from all over the world - particularly our friends from Melbourne who were particularly enamored with my husband.  These friends also lead us to Pianos on our final night in Mykonos, which was one of my favorite excursions of the entire trip.  But OUTSIDE of our new friends we made - Greece was a very popular destination among friends this year - and we actually ran in to other folks that we knew from back in the states!  It's pretty wild walking through the crowded alleyways of Mykonos, only to run into someone you know!

Our Resort...of course!  The Mykonos Grand was HANDS DOWN one of the best resorts we've ever visited in our lives.  It was the quintessential Greek accommodation complete with a friendly local staff, little blue doorways, an impressively large, luscious blue swimming pool, and they even gave us little presents every night with our turn down service!  Our room was absolutely romantic, but the highlight was definitely the Jacuzzi we had on our balcony overlooking the sea.  It was a dream.

We spent days nestled beneath our beach umbrellas & lounge chairs sipping Greek wine & listening to the sounds of the sea & we spent our nights taking in the scene of the Mykonian nightlife.  And Mykonos lived up to every expectation we had of the more lively of the two islands we had on our Greek vacation itinerary.  I think we had some form of charred, sundried, or grilled octopus at every meal & the feta was so delicious I thought I'd cry.  I could write an entire POST about the food in Greece - because it was an true highlight, but I'll spare you.

But after four days in Mykonos, we packed our suitcases that I fittingly stuffed with everything blue & white that I owned, to board the ferry over to our next Greek destination - Santorini.  We'll divulge our adventures in Santorini in another post - but for now - thank you Mykonos for an unforgettable retreat and for some amazing memories. I'll be dreaming about Mykonian sunsets for the rest of my days!

Happy LDW from our Crue to Yours!

For those of you who aren't aware, this is the last and final tour of one of our favorite bands - Motley Crue.  When they made the announcement, Mike and I vowed that we wouldn't miss the show this summer, in fact, we even bought tickets for MULTIPLE different stops along the tour.  When Motley toured with KISS two summers ago, we missed the show because of some summer travels to Europe.  So when the final tour was set to make it's stop at PNC Bank Center, we made sure that we'd stay in town over Labor Day weekend 2014.

I only know one other couple who loves Motley Crue as much as we do, and that is the Novos.  It's hard to believe that just three summers ago, the four of us took on PNC for Motley as they toured with Poison.  Instead of cabs, trains and buses as our transportation to the event, we piled into the Jeep for a full day in New Jersey this year.  And this time, because it's the final tour - we all had meet & greets (part of the reason we had to arrive at PNC by 2:30 for an 8 o'clock show!).

Our meet & greet started with a backstage tour.  We were invited to see the stage to see the crew set up the instruments and all of the accompaniments for the show.  We saw the pentagram, Tommy's drum set, Nikki's base rig, and the remnants of the previous night's confetti scattered across the stage and road cases.  There was a little too much downtime in between our call time and when we got to meet the band.  The boys got antsy and the girls got tired feet, but by the time we could finish our beers, we got to head down to our special meet & greet area for our picture with the band!  Tommy was exempt from the pictures, which was annoying, but we got to shake hands and take snaps with one of our favorite bands of all time - and that was pretty priceless.

But before the headliner took the main stage, we headed to our seats for Alice Cooper.  Oh. My. GOSH the man is a legend!  I had never seen Alice before and it was such an amazing spectacular.  Every song was like an individual show.  There were snakes, there was fire, he turned himself into a giant Frankenstein, there was a guillotine, there was money thrown across the stage, there were swords, and there were costumes galore. Probably as impressive as Alice was his kick ass female lead guitarist who quickly became my idol...in life.  Every minute of every song was completely and utterly entertaining.  The man is 66 years old, and he's pretty much the father of Halloween.  It was such a great experience and I can't believe it took me this long in life to see the man.  And I don't care if you think the song is over played or cliche, it's pretty magical when Alice get's into "School's out for Summer"!

And of course there was Motley!  We didn't get to see the full roller coaster ordeal that Tommy does over the crowd because we were in an arena venue, which was a little upsetting, but they played a set list of all our favorite songs.  And even though Mick looks like a meek little skeleton, he can still shred and he's pretty freakin unbelievable.  But our seats were the most ridiculous part of the day.  Just three rows away from the action, the heat, the sweat, and yes...the spit (Nikki likes to spit a lot).  Such an amazing view, and prime real estate for catching little trinkets from the stage!

To avoid the New Jersey traffic, we left a few songs early, but we didn't feel terrible because, guess what????  We get another chance to stay until the very last song when we go see Motley and Alice AGAIN at MSG IN OCTOBER!  Oh yes, there will be pictures and updates (and maybe even costumes if we can manage to coordinate!) from that leg of the tour as well.  But this day was definitely one for the books folks.  A meet & greet with one of our favorite bands, our first time seeing Alice Cooper together, a lovely evening of weather in August, a 3-day weekend to recover, but most importantly, a perfect Saturday with our favorite concert buddies.  Thank you to my amazing husband for hooking us up for a once-in-a-lifetime day, for all the unnecessary (albeit awesome & super metal) Motley/Alice merchandise, and for literally thinking of EVERYTHING to pack for our little concert tailgate.  I can't wait until the four of us do it one last time in October!